With spring in full force, many Jumbos are looking to get in shape for bathing suit season by losing weight gained during the long winter months. Some choose to enjoy the warm weather by running outside, whereas others take advantage of the free facilities at Cousens Gym. However, some students have opted to fork over membership fees to join off−campus gyms.
Senior Brittany Cahoon belongs to the Boston Sports Club's (BSC) branch in Davis Square, which enables her to occasionally go to the chain's Government Center location. She says that having to pay for a membership actually motivates her to exercise more. A membership to BSC costs $73 per month.
"I really like classes," Cahoon said "It's hard to self−motivate for working out, so I figure if I pay for it, I'll have an incentive to go, and the aerobic instructors and spin instructors will tell me exactly what to do. It's high energy, and I really like it."
Though Tufts Student Resources offers low−cost exercise classes in Hill Hall, Cahoon believes that the classes at BSC are of higher quality and are more frequent and diverse in choice. Cahoon also cited social reasons for joining BSC.
"I go with a lot of the girls in my sorority. We go and take spin classes, and yesterday I took a kickboxing class for the first time," Cahoon said.
Scott Whitney, the general manager of the BSC in Davis Square, said that quite a few Tufts students have started going to the BSC in Davis.
"We have a lot of personal trainers [and] a lot of instructors that are Tufts alums, so we have a connection there too," Whitney told the Daily.
Whitney cited BSC's state−of−the−art facilities as a major draw, as well as its proximity to campus and the wide range of classes available.
"We also offer 51 classes, from spin to club strength to Pilates to yoga to step to abs, total body conditioning. So we have an array of classes that definitely appeal to a wide variety of people," Whitney said.
With BSC's expensive monthly rate as a deterrent, however, most Tufts students continue to use Cousens Gym. Senior Rosa Babbitt−Spaeth goes to the gym frequently, in addition to running outdoors and working out at home.
"Weeks that I go to the gym, when I don't have a test or something, I go about three times per week for about one and a half hours," she said. "I like Gantcher, the indoor gym. When I go to workout, [Gantcher] seems less busy than the other parts of the gym. There are lots of good spots to stretch, and there are several machines that are often free, and if there are no treadmills available I run around the track, something a lot of private gyms don't have."
Babbitt−Spaeth did acknowledge that there are aspects of Tufts' gym that need improvement. "I don't think it has a nice atmosphere," she said. "It's too small, especially compared to other universities, and the machines are always busy."
Babbitt−Spaeth said the exercise facilities of Northeastern University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology are far more inviting than Tufts' facilities. "The number of people that you see working out in those locations shows how many people are able to take advantage of their facilities, and it would be nice to have more space, especially as students here at Tufts have to share with the varsity and club sports teams," Babbitt−Spaeth said.
"I wish I could go to the BSC or Health Works, and they seem like nice places, but I don't want to pay for it when Tufts is free," Babbitt−Spaeth added.
Because Tufts' gymnasium complex doesn't offer everything, some students venture off campus for specific types of exercise. Senior Rachel Engelberg, for example, travels to Woburn to use a boxing gym. "I started boxing about a year ago in Australia, and I wanted to continue it when I came back," Engelberg said.
Though she works out when she can at MK Boxing in Woburn, she also takes advantage of Tufts' facilities. "I go to the Tufts gym at least twice a week," Engelberg said "I'm enrolled in Tina McDavitt's Strength Training For Women class for the third time."
Woburn is much less convenient than Cousens, but she tries to get off campus as much as possible in order to box. "I try to go off campus to MK Boxing as often as I can, but with trying to work out my schedule, it usually means only twice a month. Now that the year is winding down, though, I've been going more often — probably one to two times a week," Engelberg said.
Though Cahoon acknowledged that exercising at facilities off campus is always more expensive and usually more difficult to get to than Cousens, some students choose to do it nonetheless, citing the high quality of off−campus facilities.
"With my on−campus job, it isn't too difficult to make the monthly payments to go there, so it just was a wise economic and workout decision," Cahoon said.
